Fairwarp - Ashdown Forest - Fairwarp

Alison and Clive Gilbert

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This walk was originally compiled by Alan and Janet Love, sadly both are no longer with us. Alison Gilbert has kindly offered to take them over. Alison and Walkingworld would like all these excellent walks to remain as a continuing tribute to Alan and Janet.

Fairwarp Christ Church, from where the walk begins, is known as 'The Church on the Forest' as it stands quite apart from the village in a beautiful setting beside the B2026. It's worth taking a look around the pretty churchyard, admiring its delicate wildness, as well as enjoying some of the inscriptions on the headstones.
Ashdown Forest, famous for Winnie The Pooh and Friends, covers an area of 6,400 acres of the High Weald. It is the remains of the Lancaster Great Park deer-hunting forest and in ancient times it spread over twice the present area. The walk takes you through its varying countryside, from the village of Fairwarp itself, through ancient woodland, bracken-covered moorland and lush fields, including part of the long-distance path 'The Wealdway', which runs from Gravesend to Eastbourne through some of the most scenic countryside in the south-east. You'll notice remnants of Ashdown Forest's industrious past as you pass Boringwheel Farm, which name derives from the boring-out of cannon barrels which took place here in the 16th Century, and Brown's Brook Cottage which, with others nearby, results from the Enclosures and Clearance of the Forest in the 17th Century. After Point 17, the walk passes a site known as the Airman's Grave. The small, walled enclosure is a memorial to the occupants of a Wellington Bomber of 142 Squadron which crashed on a hillside in the vicinity during World War 2. It is kept, neatly planted with flowers, as a touching tribute to the men who died.
NB: Ashdown Forest is criss-crossed by tracks and paths and we shall be using both those marked as green rights of way on the OS map and other forest access paths, which are on occasion unmarked on the map but obvious on the ground.

England - South England - East Sussex - Countryside

Features

Birds, Butterflies, Cafe, Church, Flowers, Great Views, Hills or Fells, Pub, Public Transport, Tea Shop, Toilets, Wildlife, Woodland

10/21/2020 - Douglass David Shadwell

As with all walks in Ashdown Forest, this is smashing. Walkers might care to note, though, that the Duddleswell Tea Rooms closed during the general lockdown, were advertised for sale and are currently closed.

9/14/2014 - Frank Lee

Thank's Alan for a great walk! We particularly enjoyed the variety of the walk and the far reaching views of the South Downs and the Weald were nothing but spectacular. The descriptive list does need updating a bit to accommodate the missing stiles etc but with the map it is still easy to keep on track. We did the walk on a warm day and it is easy going under foot which will obviously change once the rains come. In a couple of places, the single footpaths were well over grown so if you are delicate wear long trousers. I'm a shorts man myself and have the scars to prove it. We did divert to the Airman's grave to pay our respects and it was well worth the effort. Just a footnote to say that the Foresters pub near the car park stops serving food at 2pm. Of course, we arrived their at 2.15pm! Thank's once again. Frank.

10/16/2012 - Stephen Jordan

Many thanks for this excellent walk which proved easy to follow and which showed off the Ashdown Forest marvellously. Yes, one or two of the stiles remain wobbly but geanerally it was good. Walked 15/10/12.

11/7/2011 - Susan Pyne

Lovely varied walk, even on a dull November day. The detour to the Airman's Grave is definitely worthwhile and was especially poignant since we did the walk so close to Remembrance Day. It would be good if the detour was integrated into the walk. Quite a few stiles are in bad repair and a bit wonky, and some marker posts are overgrown or leaning at strange angles.

3/22/2007 - Graham Hooker

Walked this route 21 March 07. Views were great, spring flowers just coming through and not much mud despite the unusually wet winter. One to highly recommend. The bridleway at waymark 13 remains as carved up now as it was in 05 - but its not a problem.

8/22/2005 - John Flint

I went on this walk 21/8/05. And what a beatiful day for a walk. When I got upto Gills Lap how great the views were. And the colour of the heather this time of the year is so breath taking. Great walk.